The Perils of Penelope . . . pineapple, that is.

When I wrote in my last post :

 Stay tuned to find out the fate of Penelope Pineapple.  Will it be the grill, the blender, or something more sinister?! 

I didn’t actually intend to blog about the pineapple in my refrigerator.  BUT, dinner tonight was so good that I just have to share!  Not only was it really good, I didn’t ruin my calorie count eating it.  Sorry, it was not the grilled desert (but here is the link to my favorite gilled pineapple/desert), not the blender, it was the chopping block!  (Insert evil laughter here.)  

Grilled Tuna with Pineapple and Rice

This recipe fed my family of three with a lot of left-overs.  (Yum, I can’t wait for lunch tomorrow!)

First the tuna (2-6 oz. Steaks).  I marinated it for about 30 min. in the following ingredients.  A zip bag with the excess air pushed out works really well.  With the bag you don’t need to make a huge amount of marinade to cover the steaks.

• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 1 TBS Soy Sauce
• 2 TBS Lemon Juice
• 2 Cloves Garlic smashed
• 2 Tsp Grated Ginger Root

While the tuna marinated in the fridge, I started the rice cooking.  (Mini Rant:  DO NOT USE INSTANT RICE!  If you are bothering to cook real food, cook some real rice while you are at it!)  I used 2 cups (rice cooker size) of Jasmine rice (my fav!) and used a can of low sodium/fat chicken stock and added water for the rest of the liquid.  (Using low sodium/fat stock lets you control the amount of these ingredients in your food.  You can always add more if you want it.  It is not a diet thing, just a good cooking habit thing.)  I also tossed some minced onion (1/2 small), and ginger root (1 TBS) in with the rice.

While the rice was cooking and the tuna marinated, I chopped up the following:

• 1/4 Pineapple in 1″ chunks
• 1 Orange in 1/2 ” chunks
• 2 TBS Fresh Cilantro 
• 2 TBS Fresh Parsley
• 2 TBS Fresh Chives

(Some red pepper would’ve been nice, but I didn’t have any.)

By now your rice is well under way and you can grill the Tuna.  4 min. each side over high heat.  (The grill must be preheated.)  When rice and tuna are done, chop the tuna into bite size chunks.  Toss tuna, rice, fruit, and herbs together and add:

• Juice of 1/2 Lime
• 2 Tsp Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper

And toss again.

Serve with Soy Sauce or Nuoc Mam on the side.  I prefer Nuoc Mam myself, nothing like the salty sweetness to go with the ginger and pineapple!  What is Nuoc Mam?  Vietnam’s all purpose condiment made from anchovy extract, salt and sugar.  One of those things that is WAY better than the sum of it’s ingredients.

And now the Mom’s are out there saying, “Grilled Tuna!  My kids/husband will never eat that!”  But they will. Really.  My son has remarked that last two times I have served tuna “Mom, how come tuna tastes like chicken?”  I don’t know the answer to that (in part because it doesn’t taste like chicken to me), but I do know he eats the tuna with less complaint than chicken!

So, there it is; the first post about the pineapple in my fridge.  Tune in tomorrow when our villain will say, “Smoothies anyone?”

Wet Rub for Roasts

 I’m not sure if “wet rub” is a real term, but it does seem to describe the technique I have been using for several years.  I first heard about this idea when watching a Jamie Oliver cooking show on the the Food Network.  It suits the way I cook because it is unfussy and uses fresh ingredients. Pork, beef, chicken seem to work equally well.  

Here is a description of a pork roast I made for dinner a few days ago.

First, a trip to the garden for me, for you, maybe the market.  I gather fresh herbs that suit my fancy that day.  Today it was marjoram, thyme, and rosemary.  On other days I can include by season or mood, sage, parsley, cilantro, dill, chives, or oregano.  This is one of the wonderful things about cooking your own food, you get to adjust everything to your mood and preference.

I load the herbs into my mortar  along with, kosher salt, pepper corns, and olive oil and grind it with the pestle until it is a wet green paste.

From here it is easy.  Just rub the paste onto your meat.  If you are roasting chicken be sure to rub it under the skin as well as on the outside.

And then just roast!  I have found that a digital meat thermometer is the real trick to perfect roasts.  After you learn proper placement you will not only be able to know when the roast is done, but also be able to hit your doneness of choice without fail.  The other trick is finding days that I can both be home for the two hours prior to dinner AND not have a specific time to be somewhere after dinner.  Finding those days has rewards, not only do we have a marvelous dinner that day but we will also have lovely roasted meat for sandwiches or even a second dinner with very little work.

 

Garden Scrapbook

I love my garden.

 It is a source of calm, exercise, food, cut flowers and memories.  Many of the plants have been gifts.  They are from birthdays, Mothers Day, anniversaries, even a tree given to commemorate the adoption of our son.  I have planted flowers that are the favorites of the women in my family.  Pansies for my paternal grandmother, yellow roses for my mother-in-law, Iris for my maternal grandmother and lilly-of -the-valley for my mother.  The daisies commemorate the ones I carried on my wedding day.

Sometimes it is the smell of the plants that trigger memories.  One of my strongest triggers for memories of Vietnam was the smell of fresh herbs that would enfold you as you walked past the street-side restaurants.  A single whiff of fresh cilantro . . . and I am so there!  This year there have been a lot of cilantro “volunteers”, new plants that grow from the seeds of last years plants without any help from the gardener.  I was surprised to find thai basil this year in one of the big hardware store garden centers.  These two combined with mint make my favorite garnishes for Pho.  If that doesn’t take me back to Vietnam the memory is lost never to return!  

What is Pho?  Well, that is a post of it’s own, and not for me to tackle.  There are entire blogs dedicated to Pho.  Go do a search, I’m sure you will find more than you have time to read for a month.

If you would like to grow herbs of Vietnam, check out this site. It lists their various names and typical uses. I live in the North East and find that most are easy to grow despite the vast differences in climates. Care must be taken when you grow mint. The good news is that it is perennial and will not need to be planted each year. The bad news is that it is very invasive and will cover your entire yard within a few seasons if not contained. Mine is currently escaping the containment I have provided and has invaded the neighboring chives. (But to be fair, the chives have also volunteered their way into the mint!)